1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a method of preparing a pizza, a pizza produced from a specified dough and a pizza crust; more particularly the present invention relates to such method, pizza dough and crust wherein the pizza is capable of being baked using micro-wave energy, i.e., in a micro-wave oven, with the pizza crust remaining crisp throughout the baking.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Pizzas are typically prepared by including a layer of sauce, principally a tomato and tomato paste sauce and a sprinkling of cheese onto a dough or crust, the pizza being baked in an oven for a period of about 10 to 15 minutes. This time is required for the pizza to bake totally through and to provide a crust which is thoroughly baked, generally to a crisp texture.
Pizzas prepared for homebaking, as opposed to restaurant or carry-out shop baking generally require even longer periods of preparation. Generally, the pizzas available for household preparation are frozen pizzas having essentially the same ingredients as described above in an appropriate wrapping or package. These frozen pizzas are generally stored in a freezer until use. To bake these pizzas, the oven must be preheated to the desirable temperature over a substantial period of time, i.e., generally 30 to 45 minutes after which the consumer can bake the frozen pizza in the oven. Again, from about 10 to 15 minutes is required in this baking operation. Accordingly, in the home, from the time of the initial decision to prepare pizza to the final placing of the pizza on the table to be eaten, 45 minutes to an hour or longer can be consumed.
This time problem has not gone unrecognized. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,615,678 and 3,615,679 in the name of Frank P. Tangel, describe an attempt at a solution to this problem by providing a frozen pizza which may be baked to completion in an ordinary toaster. The pizza which is described comprises first and second partially cooked dough layers of approximately the same size and shape, sealed together at their edges to provide a pocket between them within their edges. This pocket is filled with a sauce made essentially from tomato base and cheese, the weight of the filling being approximately 40 to 60 percent of the total weight of the pizza.
The pizza is described as rigid in its frozen state. Within the toaster, both pizza dough layers as well as the pizza filling are heated with the heating completing the baking of the pizza. This baking causes the pizza dough to change to a brown pleasing appearance and a fully cooked taste, reducing the rigidity of the dough to a semi-soft and chewable quality.
While this frozen pizza which can be baked to completion in an ordinary toaster does solve the time problem described above, this pizza is not the answer. Not only does the pizza fail to look like the ordinary restaurant or carry-out shop pizza, but, in order to make a pizza which can be baked to completion in a toaster, ordinary pizza taste is sacrificed. This, coupled with the undesirable texture of the crust which is obtained in the toaster baking makes this frozen pizza product a very unsatisfactory consumer item.
Cooking or baking with micro-wave energy, such as in a micro-wave oven, has started to replace conventional convection oven cooking or baking both on the restaurant level and in the home. The advantages of micro-wave cooking or baking are many, foremost of which are the increased speed of cooking and the versatility of cooking which allows cooking of packaged products. Accordingly, restaurants, fast food establishments, convenience stores, etc., employ micro-wave cooking as a replacement for conventional ovens. Similarly, in the home, micro-wave ovens are being employed to a great extent to supplement or replace conventional ovens.
The use of micro-wave ovens for baking and the advantages of micro-wave energy baking are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,718,480 in the names of Maurice Robert Tremblay and Richard Launt Moore. In accordance with this patent, a wheat flour pasta is prepared from a dough which is shaped into individual pasta pieces. The pieces are predried to a moisture content between 22 and 27 percent by using warm dry air and then dried to between 8 and 13 percent moisture by the application of micro-wave energy. The use of the micro-wave energy is said to materially reduce the overall drying time and produce a pasta with a shortened rehydrating time and less microbiological build-up.
The application of micro-wave energy cooking to pizza preparation would substantially reduce the baking time of pizzas and eliminate the problems described above. Unfortunately, prior to the development of the present invention, pizzas could not be successfully baked using micro-wave energy, since the pizza crust could not be maintained in a crisp state; rather, in all previous attempts to produce a pizza which could be baked using micro-wave energy the crust of the pizza became soggy and the entire product failed to have the characteristic pizza appearance and taste. All of these problems have been overcome in acccordance with the present invention whereby a pizza has been provided which can be effectively and efficiently baked using micro-wave energy, the pizza crust remaining crisp and the product having the taste and appearance of pizzas cooked in conventional convection ovens.